Essay on Sidewalks of New York City

In his first preface for "A Place on the Corner," Anderson states "my main purpose here is to sort out and focus on those items that make up the local status system as Jelly's and on the ghetto streets generally" (Anderson, p. xv). He goes further to express a desire to answer a few basic questions regarding rules and principles of operation, social hierarchies and interactions, conflicting and overlapping social statuses, and how people demonstrate to others where they

Staples argues that race, gender, and class within the United States are unfair, and his use of imagery throughout his writing helps dictate his opinions. Much of his writing uses specific descriptions that help the reader feel as if he/she were in his shoes. His use of imagery helps set a convincing tone and elicit empathy from the reader as the story continues. The more descriptions he uses in his writing help illustrate the setting to show the reader his environment. As the audience grows closer to piece, and creates an emotional attachment to Staples himself, they begin to understand his perspective on racial tensions and how they continue to be prevalent in our society today. Toward the middle of his story, as he explains the different places he could be discriminated against, he says “elsewhere - in SoHo, for example, where sidewalks are narrow and tightly spaced buildings shut out the sky- things can get very taunt indeed” (Staples 1). This gives the reader the ability to visualize the specific story he is sharing. The words “narrow” and “tightly spaced” help the reader picture an alley. The

People that don't make the most such as middle class citizens are constantly pushed and involuntary forced out of their city because of gentrification. Gentrification is the process of renovating and the economic redevelopment from one culture to another using a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste. In Downtown Eastside gentrification has been occurring for the past years. In Vancouver DTES gentrification would be doing more harm than good. The effects gentrification would leave in Vancouver DTES are unimaginable. Leaving many homeless, in poverty, culture clashing and with struggles for the low income the middle class people earn. Vancouver is already known as “poorest postal code in Canada. How will the people survive this new modification being done to their beloved DTES?

The city, Toronto in this case, presents a web of streets and geographical space that threatens to lock its citizens in a certain demarcated way of life and conduct. The four key characters in this narrative - Tuyen, Carla, Jackie, and Oku - each feel blocked in by the constrained locality that they have been born into and each attempts to escape it in his own way.: Tuyen by being an artist, Carla by being a courier; Oku by being a student and Jackie by working in a store. The first two not only attempt to escape by means of their profession using their profession to either flee the spaces and squares (by bike) or transcend it via imagination (by art) but they also adopt profession that go against societal expectations. These societal expectations were created by, and exist within the geographical space they live in. Toronto of the late 20th century had an internalized set of expectations for immigrants and its citizens. The parents of the characters succumbed to it. The protagonists, however, resolved to step out of their boundaries and most of them succeeded.

By concentrating on an ethological approach, Dickerson also makes her family disconnect from stereotypes. In first person point of view, she is able to describe her situation through her knowledge and background. For example, Dickerson describes Johnny with a settled and calm tone of voice. She writes, “Johnny speaks little, never cries, never complains, works diligently to become independent” (225). Because he is black, most people would associate Johnny with violence and gangs. In Black Men and Public Space by Brent Staples, a black men strolling down the avenue was assumed to be a criminal. The color of his skin, in correlation to his environment, evoked a sense of danger. However, through an educated voice, Johnny is not that dangerous black kid who got shot. Johnny is a sensitive victim of an unfortunate shooting. It is very easy to label an individual according to racial status. For this reason, Dickerson is required to inform the reader of elements that do not support these stereotypes. The disconnection from stereotypes satisfies her objection, and broadens the perspective of society.

The reader will find it difficult to draw connections between these neighbors and themselves when they hardly even know many intimate details about the lives of these characters. However, this is because the reader is put into a position where they are viewing characters from an outside perspective in the same way that the neighbors view each other: with little information about their lives. This is backed up in Neal Alexander’s article, titled “Profoundly Ordinary: Jon McGregor and Everyday Life”, where Alexander comments on the anonymous nature of the neighborhood, stating “The calculated anonymity that results is clearly intended to make a point about the nature of contemporary urban life, where neighbors typically maintain a defensive reserve toward one another” (Alexander 729-730). The novel maintains a type of irony in that it must detach the reader from the story in order to connect them in the same way that the characters are connected.

In the book “Code of the Street” introduction, the author Elijah Anderson gives you an outlook on how a city can go from wealth and poverty in just five miles. Anderson’s ethnographic portrayal of urban life in black America through a journey down Philadelphia’s historic Germantown Ave, which connects the appreciation of newly suburban Chestnut Hill and Philly’s main line with the generally less civil society of Germantown proper and its outlying ghetto’s, where a code of the street old as poverty and oppression itself governs the interactions of both willing and unwilling members. The story starts in Chestnut Hill which is often called "the suburb in the city," and finishes in the Northern Liberties subdivision.

It found all the dirt and dust and grime on the sidewalk and lifted it up so that the dirt got into their noses, making it difficult to breathe; the dust got into their eyes and blinded them; and the grit stung their skins” (ll 21-25). Wind cannot discourage people or physically lift dirt up into people’s noses and eyes. The personification in this quote emphasizes the negative thoughts about 116th street and how it affects the people who live on this street which further develops a negative relationship between Lutie Johnson and the urban setting Petry uses selection of detail to establish the negative relationship between Lutie Johnson and the urban setting. For example in lines 50-55 it says, “she could see that it had been there for a long time because its original coat of white paint was streaked with rust where years of rain and snow had finally eaten the paint off down to the metal and the metal had slowly rusted, making a dark red stain like blood.” Petry uses selection of detail by the negative way she describes the streets and items on it. Petry uses words that have negative connotation, like “streaked,” “eaten,” and “blood,” to help emphasize the negative relationship between

Ultimately, the two groups end up with jobs that are not too different from one another, exemplifying the faults in the achievement ideology. Throughout their whole lives, the Brothers’ consistently feel that their limited success is a reflection of their own shortcomings and has nothing to do with the flawed class or racial systems. They recognize the systems put in place to help lower class people of color excel, including free public education and affirmative action, but do not realize that this is not enough to overcome their limited cultural capital and unstable economic foundations. This also contributes to the Brothers’ intersectionality, or their analysis of how factors such as race, gender, and class interact to shape their life chances. The intersectionality of the Hallway Hangers, on the other hand, is restricted to the core idea that no matter what they do, they can ever escape the social binds of the lower class. This intersectionality also falls into place with the idea of habitus, studied by Pierre Bourdieu. Habitus describes how one sees themselves and where they fit in life. The Hallway Hangers permanently see themselves in the lower class, while the Brothers aim for higher aspirations. While the Brothers’ exhibit a higher quality of life and ultimately have less regrets and legal repercussions, they end with careers that are not much

Throughout The Street a Novel, there is definitely apparent racism and sexism in many places; however, the people who exhibit this kind of behavior are interesting at times. One such

In addition, she extends the idea of eyes upon the street showing that using and watching the street not only guarantees the safety, but it makes the street more attractive. She argues: “the sight of people attracts still other people” (37). Here, she points out the fact that people like watching other people and activities around them. Nobody likes places where there is nothing to see or to do. Interesting streets are attractive because we see different people, and different activities or businesses. In short, the more a street is frequented, the more it is secure and interesting and vice-versa. Safe streets and sidewalks contribute to the economic expansion of the city and the social fulfillment of people. Then we can conclude that safety is a one of primordial factor to the social and economic development of the city.

Living in America is a fantasy for a lot of people, but living in New York City is something even better, and more magical than any fantasy.

New York City is made up of five boroughs, which include the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Within these boroughs, there are high and low-income neighborhoods that contain either high or low status organizational structures or facilities. Each division has their own characteristics and top attractions, such as the Empire State building, Central Park, or Times Square. As New York City may be known for great food and fun attractions, New York faces infrastructure problems within each borough. New York City’s infrastructure funding is limited in lower income neighborhoods, where money needed to upkeep the city goes toward prime tourist’s areas or residents living in high status neighborhoods, such as The Upper East Side of Manhattan, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, and Lenox Hill, Manhattan. Moreover, abandoned buildings, poor sewage conditions, and rocky roads and streets are examples of low-income area infrastructure problems that may hinder neighborhood growth both structurally and economically. Harlem, East Brooklyn, and South Bronx are low-income parts of New York that lack new and refined facilities, roads, plumbing, and fundamental structures, which contribute to high crime and arrests.

The suburban lifestyle consisted of huge houses, lots of private space and little to none engagement in public spaces to the extent that “any presence in the streets other than in a car is considered almost a deviant behavior and most importantly, a safe environment. (p. 202)” These norms did not suddenly dissipate once they moved into this new neighborhood. In the South end they encountered many liquor stores

An emerging issue is that of urban sprawl. While some aspects of urban sprawl has been seen since ancient times, this phenomenon has started gaining the most momentum in the past century, aided by the advancement of technology, especially with the rise of mass produced automobiles, houses and highway systems. Many people unknowingly contribute to this environmental problem, as is the nature of it. Urban sprawl deals with the growth of the suburbs, the area between the urban and rural areas of a city. Most of America’s largest cities and states, in terms of population, are prime examples of urban sprawl. Opponents of urban sprawl usually cite the government as a major cause of sprawl. The government may be a major catalyst of